Player Pool: AL and NL Players.
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, OF, U and P.
Eligibility: Players are eligible at their primary position, plus positions they've played 20 games last year or 5 games this year.
Transactions: • Lineups are set once for the start of each period.
Deadline is 30 minutes before gametime on the first day of the period.
• Owners may set lineups and change players' positions.
• Owners may not do add/drops.
• Owners may do trades.
• No trades can be made after the trade deadline of 11:59 PM ET 8/31/06.
(Click Here to set a reminder)
• Owners may not make trades during the offseason.

The draft will be held on the league message board sometime during spring training, each owner will start an opening bid on a player every other day, until rosters are full. Minimum bids are $1

In the years after the inaugural draft, players dropped back into the auction pool will be auctioned first in random order. Order will be determined by a random drawing at least a week prior to the draft and a list will be sent to owners. After those players are sold, nominations will be taken to complete our rosters.

Players drafted will be assigned a one year contract at a salary equal to their auction price. Expansion owners will receive their pre-draft expansion picks on one-year contracts equal to their previous season’s salary.

2. ROSTERS

Active rosters will consist of 23 players; 14 hitters and 9 pitchers. Hitters include a catcher, a first baseman, a second baseman, a third baseman, a shortstop, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, and two utility men. Pitchers are any nine pitchers that you choose. Owners must maintain 23 active players on their rosters every week.

Rosters will also contain 17 reserve players. The reserves may be any type of player - pitchers or hitters. Reserved players drafted in the reserve draft will have a one year contract at a salary of .$1 . The reserve draft is especially significant because it is where many of our bargain keepers will come from. All players on the DL must be either waived or placed on reserve. When you waive a player from your reserve list, you may subsequently buy another player with your FAAB or claim a player from waivers to serve as a replacement.

Rosters will also contain up to 10 minor leaguers on the farm roster and no less than 5. It is each owner’s responsibility to maintain their farms.

3. RESERVE DRAFT

At the conclusion of the auction draft, we will conduct a 17 round snake draft to complete the reserve rosters.

It will be each owner’s responsibility to maintain and improve their farm. Just like the real thing, your future success in URA may very well depend on how well you manage your farm system. Owners are free to trade prospects at any time and may also claim free agent prospects at will. Owners may not exceed 15 players in their farm system. Farm system players are not on contracts nor do they have a salary.

At the time they are called up to the majors (if it is before Sept. 1st), they are no longer considered by URA to be prospects. Owners will have one month to decide whether to keep them on their 40 man major league roster or waive them outright. If kept, they will take a salary of $3on a one year contract (just through the end of that season they are brought up). Owners may activate called up prospects before the end of the one month grace period provided they maintain no more than 40 men on their major league roster. At the end of the season, owners will decide to release, option, or sign their called up prospect. If optioned, they will retain the $3 salary for another year.

In June of each year, we will conduct an three round amateur draft. We will select players that were taken in the annual MLB amateur draft held in early June. Draft order for 2006 will be based on inverse order of the standings as of June 1st. Draft order for subsequent years will be inverse order of the final standings from the previous year. Owners must decide which three minor leaguers they wish to drop from their farm system in order to add the new players. Therefore, we are automatically replacing 20% of our farms and keeping only the best prospects.

All players not selected in our amateur draft will become free agents available to be claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis. To claim free agent prospects, either submit a transaction request with the commish or post a message on the league board.

6. SALARY CAP

Each owner is allowed to spend up to but never over $300.00 on their entire 40-man major league roster once the season has begun. That leaves each team with an extra $20 to spend during the season in excess of their draft day purchases and reserves. Every year, the draft day budget for each owner will remain $260 less the total of player contracts. (Minus the keeper’s total salaries)

7. TRANSACTIONS

URA will operate on a weekly transaction schedule. That is, our stat week will begin on Mondays. Enter weekly transactions on your team web page by 11pm EST Sunday night. Players may be transferred from active to reserve at any time. Owners must always maintain 23 active players and up to 17 reserves.

8. FREE AGENTS

Any player not on an URA roster is considered a free agent. Free agents are claimed by using allotted “free agent acquisition budget” (faab). Each team will receive $20.00 faab money to spend on free agents of their choosing. To claim a free agent, simply post a bid on our private league message board. That way everyone may see the bid and bid against it. (Minimum bids are $1) The player will be considered sold to the bidder with the highest bid by 11pm EST Friday. If bidding on a player doesn’t begin until the late in the week or the weekend, owners will submit a high-bid via email to the commish. Owners involved in the bidding will then have through that weekend to conduct the bidding. On Monday, the bidding will be resolved. In the event of a tie bid, the team lowest in the standings that day will win the player. The player will assume his bid price as his one year salary. The player will become property of his owner on the Monday when the bidding ended. A player must be waived from the 40 man roster at the time the free agent is claimed unless the winning owner had fewer than 40 men on his roster. Minor league free agents are simply claimed without regard to the faab, salaries, or contracts. Claims are either entered on the league board or with the commish. Thus, it is to each owner’s long-term benefit to be aware of prospects on-the-rise. There are no free agent acquisitions after the season is over.

9. WAIVERS

When a player is cut from a team’s 40 man roster or farm, that player is placed on waivers for one week. Once a player clears the week-long waiver period, he becomes a free agent. They will be placed on a separate “waiver wire” list. Any owner may enter a claim for a waived player. Waiver claims must be made before 11pm EST on Friday. That player will be awarded to the claiming owner lowest in the standings at the listed Monday effective when the player was waived. The player will assume his old salary and contract. Players on long term contracts (2, 3, or 4 years) may not be waived at any time. Players on option years or one-year contracts may be. If claimed, they take on their old salary and they may not be kept by their new owner the next year. They maintain their option or one-year contract status.

In the event that a player dies or suffers a career-ending injury, “URA insurance” will take effect and the owner will be freed of the player’s contract.

10. CONTRACTS

Players will assume their auction prices as their one year contract. Owners have 3 options with each of their players at year’s end: signing them long-term, activating their option year, or not resigning them. After each season, players may be signed to long-term contracts for a total of 2, 3, or 4 years. Players awarded such a contract will begin the contract the following season. Owners may only sign players during the signing period of Oct 1st – Dec 31st each year. A player’s salary will increase by $5 each year of his long-term contract. So if Mike drafts Austin Kearns for $2 and signs him to a 4 year deal this fall, his salaries will be $7 in 2007, $12 in 2008, $17 in 2009 and $22 in 2010. Sign wisely. To sign a player to a contract simply post a message on our league message board indicating the terms of the contract. (Long-term or option and salaries)

Owners may also elect to activate their option year on any player. The option allows the owner to retain a player for an additional year at the same salary from the previous year. However, once the option year is over, the player is returned to the free agent draft pool. Players on an option year will be denoted as ‘O’ in their contract column.

Players on long-term contracts or option years may be traded. The new owner will assume the salary and duration of the player’s contract. Players on long-term contracts may not be waived. Players on option years may be waived. Players signed to any option or contract will be noted on our team pages. Salaries will be noted as well. For instance a player on a 3 year contract extension starting in 2006 will be noted as “X08” in their contract column (this denotes a long term contract, expiring after the 2007 season). Contracts for all our players taken in any season’s auction and reserve draft will be noted as “1” indicating that the contract is for one year and expires at season’s end.

Farm system players will not have a salary or a contract. As aforementioned, they will cease to be considered prospects in the instance that they are called up before Sep. 1st. If kept, they will assume a one year contract for the remainder of the season at a salary of $3. When a prospect is called up prior to Sept. 1st, owners will have one month to decide whether or not to keep that player at $3

10. KEEPERS

Each year before Jan 1st at the end of contract signing period, owners will submit a list of “keepers” that have been signed or optioned by their teams. That list must include at least 4 players but no more than 8. Keepers may be from any position. Keeper lists are to be submitted on the league message board before midnight Dec 31st. Farm systems are automatically kept from year to year.

12. TRADES

Owners are free to trade any player at any time except the month of September. Trades must be reported on the league message board. This is a free trade league. That means that there are no trade vetoes. This is just like the real thing. “Dumping” trades are not only legal, but encouraged. Free trading allows for non-contenders to build for their future once they are no longer playing for the current season. Moderately priced stars will be gold in this league and contenders will be expected to compete for them by offering up prospects and/or low priced potential stars. “Players to be named later” are not allowed. When a trade is announced it must clearly state which teams receive which players. Any amount of players may be traded. Any number of teams may be involved in any trade. We ask that trades be announced on the league message board.

11. POSITION ELIGIBILTY

Players are eligible to play a position if they played that position 20 times in the previous season or 10 times in the current season.

12. AWARDS

Money will be paid out to the top three teams. 1st place will get 70% 2nd will get 20% and 3rd 10% after cbs fees..

13. STAT SERVICE

We will be using CBS SPORTSLINE.COM

14. OVERALL GOAL OF URA

This league was started to provide a bunch of baseball fans with friendship and good-times. Let’s have a blast every year. Stay active and up-to-date with your teams. I know we’ll love this league.